Interesting point Lee. It would be interesting to see what the result would be if this was allowed in leagues. Could these types of opportunities be encouraged and set up by coaches informally? Especially by those who coach different aged teams.

i think it would be nothing but benificial for all involved Tim.

we talk about developing players, first stop should be developing them as people, stopping obvious progression where some children can really benefit from, goes against the whole four corner model.,

long term damage of children who can be closer in age, mentally and physically by a matter of  a few weeks  and not being able to play in the year below, is  a real danger in the whole social corner. not just in football but into their social lives also

yes in "freindlies" this can be adopted., but in competition where peers can be instrumental in either praise or snide remarks can have a massive effect on sed players.

teams shouldnt be lets say just u14's it should be u13,14      u14,15     u15,16 and so on

this subject is something i am really passionate about

Yeah it's a really interesting point Lee. Lots focus on the chronological age of the player and not so much on their biological age. 

In competition - how could you reduce those snide remarks? and is this a bad thing or can part of it help build resilience? 

hi Tim,

the problems come from acceptance from their peers

its not intentional, but i think youngsters unconciously listen to other remarks and it makes their mind up

if a child isnt up to speed with others because of their mental age and physical age this can have a massive knock to the confidence of the player, which in turn can generally spiral the wrong way.

showing less involvement and fear of making mistakes for thier peers to see

some players arent actually that good but their confidence pulls them through

other players that are behind and suffer confidence issues find it even tougher to catch up

hence why playing more in the year below would be a big help

for them, their current age group, the group below and the coaches

Hi Lee,

Yeah very true. It would certainly be interesting to see the impact that would have. Is there a danger of those, who lack confidence, losing more confidence if they are asked to play with a younger group?

Possibly but if it’s the “norm” then it would minimalise that issue, plus if teams were u12/13 for example rather than just an u12 then there would be no singling out

Possibly but if it’s the “norm” then it would minimalise that issue, plus if teams were u12/13 for example rather than just an u12 then there would be no singling out